Local News

Novella Evans is shown is in 1999 in Watsonville at age 5 in a photo to promote the upcoming Santa Cruz County Fair with her Bantam Cochin chicken, Cluck-Cluck. She is shown again 22 years later at the 2021 County Fair with another Bantam...

Eight local healthcare leaders were recognized for their contributions to health throughout the past year.   The Community Health Trust (CHT), which serves the tri-county area to ensure equitable health, awarded two organizations and six individuals with the Phil Rather Award for Leadership in Healthcare. Rather...

SOUTH COUNTY—Saying that the outages South Santa Cruz County’s rural residents have experienced “are not acceptable,” Pacific, Gas and Electric Company representatives told the public Thursday that they are currently adjusting equipment throughout the area in hopes of lessening the length and occurrence of...

WATSONVILLE—On many days, when groups of school kids crowd into Conchita’s Ice Cream in Plaza Vigil for an afternoon treat, handfuls of people experiencing homelessness show up, some pushing shopping carts loaded with their possessions through the store and others demanding free items. The people,...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Education leaders across Santa Cruz County—and the rest of the state—are struggling to fill classroom teaching positions and find substitute teachers, a problem that has left some classes without educators and required administrators at some schools to occasionally take over classes. According to...

WATSONVILLE—Starting an event centered around comics, art, fantasy and the collectibles that those realms inspire was something Francisco “Paco” Estrada had first dreamed up when he was elected into the Watsonville City Council in 2018. The idea was, Estrada says, to give kids—and adults—a safe...

The extensive slough system that runs through the heart of the Pajaro Valley has become a cornerstone for local recreation, wildlife viewing, education and research.  These wetlands are home to various species of animals and plants, many rare and endangered. They help replenish groundwater, buffer...

WATSONVILLE—Two relative newcomers to Watsonville politics will face off for the vacant District 2 seat in a special election slated for Dec. 7. Francisco “Frank” Barba and Vanessa Quiroz-Carter turned in the paperwork required to run for office just before the deadline on Monday evening....

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A man in his mid-30s died of Covid-19-related complications on Sept. 14, Santa Cruz County Public Health announced Tuesday. The man, County spokesperson Jason Hoppin said in a press release, was the 212th Covid-related death in the county. He was not vaccinated against...

WATSONVILLE—Although Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Manager Dave Kegebein had not yet sat down and pored over the attendance numbers from the weekend’s County Fair, he was confident in saying Tuesday that this year’s event was “absolutely the best Fair ever.” “Everything went really smoothly and...